Goodreads

Persepolis

May 15, 2017

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming–both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom–Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.

The genius in Persepolis is the simplicity. Marjane Satrapi’s autobiography is a timely and timeless tale of a young woman coming of age against the backdrop of the Islamic Revolution. The artwork consists of a series of monochromatic drawings; bold black lines washed with nuances of gray and stark contrasts between light and dark. Simple as this may sound, Persepolis is full of heart and soul; it is alive with humor and a fierce independence of spirit. If Persepolis had been a conventional memoir rather than a graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi’s account of her childhood and youth in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran would not have been quite as moving or as marvelous, particularly for western audiences who may find themselves completely unfamiliar with the history of Iran or the Islamic Revolution.

Descended from the last Emperor of Iran, Satrapi is nine when fundamentalist rebels overthrow the Shah. Marjane grows up in a family of left-wing intellectuals who suffer first under the Shah’s dictatorship and then, as the triumphant Islamic revolutionaries turn on their secular allies, under the rule of the mullahs. This political history, which includes war, torture, and execution, is conveyed with impressive restraint and visual wit.

Satrapi wrote Persepolis in an almost childish manner, to reflect Marjane’s innocence in this horrifying world. Young Marjane (or Marji) does not understand what is going on around her. Her parents talk about materialism and martyrs. Her teacher says that the Shah is divine. Her maid does not eat with the family. Marjane wants to become a prophet so she takes refuge in God and reading all the books she can. Then the Shah is overthrown and a new Islamic regime takes control. All the schools are single-gender, she is forced to wear a veil, and the picture of the Shah is torn out of her textbook. Her parents’ friends, Siamak and Mohsen, are released from prison. She meets Anoush, her uncle whom she immediately loves. He tells her stories about being in prison and Russia, and gifts her with a bread swan. Thanks to the Iran-Iraq war, neighbors’ homes are bombed, playmates are killed and parties are forbidden. Satrapi’s parents, who once lived in luxury despite their politics, struggle to educate their daughter. Her father briefly considers fleeing to America, only to realize the price would be too great. “I can become a taxi driver and you a cleaning lady?” he asks his wife. Powerfully understated, this work moves at a fast pace, which almost gives the reader vertigo; the effect is absolutely exhilarating.

My favorite aspect of Persepolis is the strength and quality of feminism that runs throughout it. Persepolis is full of no-nonsense feminism, and it is anchored in the matriarchs of Satrapi’s family – her mother and her grandmother. Like her grandmother and her mother, Marjane is a natural rebel, someone who takes freedom and equality as her birthright and dares the world to challenge her. Though she is self-confident and sometimes a little self-righteous, Marjane Satrapi does not wrap herself in heroism. Iron Maiden, Nikes, and Michael Jackson become precious symbols of freedom, and eventually Satrapi’s rebellious streak puts her in danger, forcing her to flee Iran on more than one occasion. Despite the grimness, Satrapi never lapses into sensationalism or sentimentality.

Skillfully presenting a child’s view of war and her own shifting ideals, Satrapi presents us with a powerfully understated masterpiece that everyone should read. Persepolis will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and you will want to blast punk rock music.

Marjane Satrapi (Persian: مرجان ساتراپی) is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novellist, illustrator, animated film director, and children’s book author. Apart from her native tongue Persian, she speaks English, Swedish, German, French and Italian.

Satrapi grew up in Tehran in a family which was involved with communist and socialist movements in Iran prior to the Iranian Revolution. She attended the Lycée Français there and witnessed, as a child, the growing suppression of civil liberties and the everyday-life consequences of Iranian politics, including the fall of the Shah, the early regime of Ruhollah Khomeini, and the first years of the Iran-Iraq War. She experienced an Iraqi air raid and Scud missile attacks on Tehran. According to Persepolis, one Scud hit the house next to hers, killing her friend and entire family.

Satrapi’s family are of distant Iranian Azeri ancestry and are descendants of Nasser al-Din Shah, Shah of Persia from 1848 until 1896. Satrapi said that “But you have to know the kings of the Qajar dynasty, they had hundreds of wives. They made thousands of kids. If you multiply these kids by generation you have, I don’t know, 10-15,000 princes [and princesses]. There’s nothing extremely special about that.” She added that due to this detail, most Iranian families would be, in the words of Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, “blue blooded.”

In 1983, at the age of 14 Satrapi was sent to Vienna, Austria by her parents in order to flee the Iranian regime. There she attended the Lycée Français de Vienne. According to her autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, she stayed in Vienna through her high school years, staying in friends’ homes, but spent three months living on the streets. After an almost deadly bout of pneumonia, she returned to Iran. She studied Visual Communication, eventually obtaining a Master’s Degree from Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

During this time, Satrapi went to numerous illegal parties hosted by her friends, where she met a man named Reza, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War. She married him at the age of 21, but divorced roughly three years later. Satrapi then moved to Strasbourg, France.